The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1887-03-31
4 BATTLE FOR BREAD
k"sh Of the famished Passenger, of tn.
scotia for Food

Scotia for Eood
New York World
Another boat load of passengers from
the stranded steamer Scotia reached
Castle Garden yesterday on the harg,.
John HaSgerty, which was lowed up bv
the wrecklng tug Rescue. of the Merritt
Company. There were J34 of them
men. women and children-and half
starved as they Were. every face b.ameI
with thankfulness for their deliveranc,.
from misery and suffering. The Com
Ihis-iohtrs of Emigration. with humane
forethought. had ordered that every on.
of the poor wretches be supplied with
food and drink ON their arrival. and
preparations had been made to deliver
10 eitch one quarter loaf Of bread some.
sausage and beer or milk.
An effort was made to carry out the.
instructions of the Commissioners and
make an equitable division of the food.
but one might a. We'll have ATTEMPTED Ia
enter den of wild beasts and feed them
one by one. No sooner had an inter
prefer announced that bread was To- H..
had than three hundred or more fam
Ished beings rushed franticaIIy forward
10 the bread stand, and in a moment all
thought of regularity and order was for
gotten. The cry of fire" i'm a crowded
theatre could not have caused wilder
rush than the word bread" effected
among that famished. ship-wrecked
bahd- Men and women Were knocked
down and trampled: mothers forgot
their babies and fathers their toddling
offsprings.
The half dozen clerks who Were. to dis
tribute the food saw immediately the
danger of attempting to give the bread
To each individually. and mounting the
long counter the almoner tossed quarter
ioavts of bread far out among the hun
ger-frenZled people. who fought like. de-
mons for the cherished food For
twenty minutes the scene was appalling.
Five or six policemen from various parts
of the Castle Garden grounds attempted
to suppress the riot, but failed utterly
One or two used their clubs in order to
prevent bodily III Jury to- some of the fall
en- ones, but the half-maddent-l crowd
seemed not To- heed the blows. Fortu-
nately no one was seriously injured, but
several Were bruised 50 that they will re
member the scene for weeks To come
The officials in the Garden unite. i'm saw
ing that never i'll their knowledge of the
institution has such scene been enact
ri within its walls before
The utter mhumanity of some. of the.
men aroused the contempt and indigna-
ton of all who witnessed the hattie. for
food. Big, burly fellows with tin.
strength of giants. not satisfied with one
or even Two hunks of bread. stuffed
hunk after hunk INTO their packets and
fought for more, while haggarl terror
stricken women feebIy attempted in thu.
wild scramble tn seize even crumbs from
the hoor. One repulsive looking fellow,
after securing eight pieces of the bread
SUNK away To corner, where with
greedy. eager hands he. tied the bread i'm
a piece of be,itick. and was turning back
to get more. when an officer spied him
and, despite his tears and protestations,
cohil+ileh INN Ia give a portion at the
bread To several little children.
1t was heartrending To witness the
ravenous manner in which the food was
eaten. Some could hardly wait To
swallow what they took. but kept stuff
ing their Threats to the verge of choking
Ii was nearly an hour before aliet was
restored, though the fierce struggle.
lasted less than half an hour. These p,.n-
pie We're taken off the Scotia Saturday
and placed ON the barge. after having
been taken III catboats To Fire island
Saturday afternoon each of them had
received slice of bread. but from that
time until Castle Garden was reached
none had tasted food. They tell pitiful
story of suffering and terror They had
been on short rations for many DAYS
previous to the stranding of the Scotia
and were at that time half famished
Dominic Strapello, "A tall muscular
man, said through an Interpreter: Ten
of us were given one loaf of bread and
ten POTATOES to divide among us each
day during the week before we stranded
Those were our daily r:itions We ONLY
had meat two DAYS during the whole
voyage. During the two DAYS before
We went ashore We each received one
spoonful of macarnni and "A slice of
bread.
P:isquale Amare. another passenger
said; The Captain was brutal and inhu-
man. One day he ordered twenty-three
of us Ia 90 below and shovel coal. One
man refused to do 80 unless given
decent meal The Captain pick
ell up "A marlinspIke quick as "A
flash, and struck him ON the arm. break
ing it,"
fortunate Zerraro told how the cap
tain had refused food To "A sick man. Who
pleaded for il. lest he die. with the re-
mark: If You die we'll throw YOU over
board. Panolo Unyara ccrroborated
Zerraro's story. All the immigrants
speak viciously of the captain, and in
many cases tell stories rejecting upon
his ability as a seaman. and MANY of
them charge him with intemperance.
The tug Luckenbach brought up the
baggage of the passengers yesterday af-
ternoon. The last of the immigrants ar
rived here last evening by railroad. They
were mostly women and children and
had been well cared for by the agents of
the company. To-day the passengers
will be started OFT for their various des-
tinations.
The Scotia was lying i'm an easy posi-
tlon yesterday and was not leaking Her
cargo Will oe removed as speedily as
possible. and it Is believed she can he
Heated within twenty-four hours. She
Is not thought To tie badly damaged. but
Will need an entire overhauIing.
The men who were injured as told in
yesterdays World. were brought I'D
with the last lot of the passengers over
the Long Island road. They were carried
from the cars To- the boat i'm waiting on
stretchers and will have to receive hos
Hfs.l